By David Crystal

New from Cambridge University Press!

By Peter Mark Roget

This book "supplies a vocabulary of English words and idiomatic phrases 'arranged … according to the ideas which they express'. The thesaurus, continually expanded and updated, has always remained in print, but this reissued first edition shows the impressive breadth of Roget's own knowledge and interests."

Book Information

The handbook presents data about 428 contemporary indigenous languages/ethnic groups of South and Central America from onduras toTierra del Fuego, in the form of dictionary entries arranged according to linguistic groups. After an introduction discussing problems of linguistic grouping and ethnic status of population groups follows a general bibliography of more than 4500 titles, general maps of the countries mentioned, a cross-referenced index of about 3200 names of ethnic groups/subgroups, languages, and varieties. Each entry of the dictionary contains: (1) precise geographical locations, (2) name(s) under which the ethnolinguistic groups are known in the literature, including some considered nowadays obsolete but found in older sources, (3) own name(s) whenever known, (4) number of speakers of the language and/or ethnic group, (5) bibliography of the group, including ethnology, linguistics, ethnohistory and legal rights, (6) observations concerning ethnohistory, linguistic and/or ethnical grouping, including many moot points and first hand observations obtained in personal communications from experienced field workers, anthropologists and linguists. [written in Spanish].